


One Hell of a Roadtrip

by Maxxxy_4444



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Car Accidents, Car Chases, F/M, Gwom - Freeform, NO MA/X/VID, Questionable knowledge of American geography, Questionable knowledge of how cars work, Road Trip, dadvid, gwenmom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxxxy_4444/pseuds/Maxxxy_4444
Summary: When summer ends and Max's parents don't arrive, his counselors are left to work out what to do next. Fortunately, Max remembers his grandmother’s address. Unfortunately, she lives all the way down in Texas. Gwen and David are too broke for plane tickets, so they're gonna have to drive!Meanwhile, Daniel has escaped from the authorities and is hell-bent on revenge and hot on their trail.All in all, this is shaping up to be one hell of a road trip.





	One Hell of a Roadtrip

**Author's Note:**

> So... This is my first fic. Ever. Hopefully it isn't too awful! Please enjoy!

“Well shit. I dunno what I was expecting.” 

Max sat hunched up outside the Camp Campbell mess hall, glumly watching the sun set over the hills. He supposed he should’ve seen this one a mile away – his parents hadn’t even bothered to fill out his second name. This was a long time coming; they had probably ditched him here for good this time. In Camp Campbell. His second most hated place on earth, right after his own house. The boy idly shifted position, his aching muscles complaining loudly as he drew his knees up to his chest, trying to think about anything else.

The camp was weirdly quiet with all the kids gone. Max had grown accustomed to the ceaseless chaos and chatter coming from his fellow campers, but now the grounds were eerily quiet. Nerris’s fort had been packed up, the tents emptied and the campfire put out. He could actually hear the birds – he thought Nikki had managed to scare them all off by the end of the summer. It would have been peaceful if it weren’t so weird.

Well, almost peaceful.

“You have no idea how thankful I am, agent Miller!” The door to the Campbell mess hall burst open, and Max ruefully hunched his shoulders against the tidal wave of sunshine and happiness that was David. The man in question bounced through the doors, one hand holding the phone to his ear and the other gesticulating emphatically, despite the fact that Ered’s father couldn’t see him. 

“Seriously, I really owe you one! I’m so glad Ered enjoyed her time at camp, and I’m glad you’re putting a good word in for us! I hope that she’ll come back next year for-” David paused mid-sentence, holding the phone away from his ear. “Oh, he hung up on me.”

“No shit. Probably wanted to keep his eardrums.” Max said grumpily, rolling his eyes as David put his phone away. 

“Language.” David chided. After a moments hesitation he plopped down next to Max, joining him in staring out at the road. “Well, it looks like we’ll be able to keep this camp up and running! Despite certain uh… Things.” 

“You mean like the existence of Campbell?” Max responded dryly, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yes.” David admitted in a tight voice, and swiftly changed the subject. “But, you’ll be able to come back for another summer! Won’t that be fun, huh Max?” 

“Great.” Max said, injecting as much sarcasm as he possibly could into a single syllable. “When my parents inevitably ditch me here again. If they turn up, that is.” 

“They’ll turn up!” David said, a little bit too quickly. Turning to face Max, he gave the boy what was hopefully an encouraging smile. Max responded with a withering stare, and watched in vague satisfaction as David struggled to keep the smile on his face. “We’ve been trying to contact them for a while now… I think they’re just stuck in traffic.” 

“Whatever.” The sun had dipped beneath the hills now, but Max showed no signs of moving. 

In lieu of a response, David reached over and ruffled Max’s hair. Max retaliated with the standard amount of indignant outrage, swatting David’s hand away and snarling out a string of curses, which David promptly ignored. Laughing as if he hadn’t just been called a cunt, the counsellor turned his attention back to the road leading towards the lodge. Max huffed and rested his head on his hands, staring out at the dirt road with David. Silence settled over the camp again as they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

…

Several hours later, David decided enough was enough. The sun had completely gone from the sky and only the stars now lit the camp. It was way past Max’s bedtime. Deciding not to dilly-dally any longer, David got to his feet and tried to gauge if Max was asleep or not. He decided to risk it.

“C’mon Max. It’s time to go to bed.” He said, softly.

“Fuck.” Max grumbled sleepily, his head on his knees. His hair was even messier than normal, and his arms hung limply at his sides. He looked smaller than usual, which was an achievement.

“Language.” David crouched down next to the child and lightly poked him in the shoulder. 

“Fuck.” Max said, more aggressively this time, and David decided to leave it. After a few seconds the boy clambered to his feet, rubbing at his eyes and yawning tiredly. David stood back up again as he watched Max stumble over to the tents. 

“Good night, Max!” David called after him with a wave. Max gave him the middle finger over his shoulder, before tossing his backpack into his tent and practically falling in after it.

Once David was sure Max could no longer see him, he let out a shaky sigh. For a few seconds, David just stood there, soaking up the night. It was normally easy to relax when out in the middle of nature, but Max’s situation was something different. For some reason, David stared back out at the road for a few more minutes, as if Max’s parents were suddenly going to appear out of thin air, gushing about how they’d gotten terribly lost. 

Predictably, the road stayed empty, and David turned back around to the mess hall, fiddling distractedly with his bandana. He wasn’t sure exactly why he had waited.

The door to the old wooden lodge creaked shut behind him as he made his weary way past the empty tables and through the kitchen towards his and Gwen’s rooms. The only thing that lit their hallway was the warm glow coming from under Gwen’s door, which cast the inside of the wooden lodge in long shadows. 

“Gwen?” David called out quietly, making his way over to Gwen’s door and knocking lightly.

“Come in.” Her voice sounded rough and the stress made its way into her tone. David opened the door carefully to find her sat on her bed, hunched over her laptop, her worn face illuminated by the screen. 

“You alright there, Gwen?” David trotted over to Gwen’s bed and sat down with her, leaning over to look at the screen.

“Yeah m’fine.” Gwen mumbled, running a hand through her hair and rolling her eyes at David’s complete lack of awareness for personal space. “I’ve been trying to track down his parents for, like, the entire evening.”

“Any luck?” David asked, unable to keep the hopeful twinge out of his voice. Gwen had Facebook open, with Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram on various other tabs. Judging from her drained expression, she really had been at this all evening.

“He said his second name was Singh. Do you know how many ‘Singh’s there are?” Gwen said exasperatedly, ruffling up her hair up even more as she anxiously raked her fingers through it. “I’ve messaged fifteen different people on fifteen different sites, but I don’t really think any of them are his parents…” She trailed off, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath. David waited as she opened them again, and shut the laptop with a small click, putting it aside on the bed next to her.

“We… Could try the phone number again?” David said with a hopeful shrug as Gwen turned back around to face him.

“It’s not gonna magically change, David.” Gwen said with a blank stare, and watched tiredly as his shoulders slumped down.

“Yeah, you’re right…” They had called Max’s emergency number approximately twenty times this day, and not a single one had been picked up. Not even Gwen’s celebrity stalking skills could stand up to the boy’s elusive parents. Moreover, according to Max, his parents were ‘moving house’ over the summer, and thus had a different address, which, of course, they refrained from putting on his form. 

Inevitably, it seemed, Max’s parents had vanished. David and Gwen had spent the good part of leaving day kicking themselves for not realising this would happen sooner. 

“Let’s get some rest, David.” Gwen said, forcing a weary smile.

“Yeah...” David repeated, quietly. He stood up, and walked back to Gwen’s door, the floorboards creaking softly under his feet. “We can ask him whether he has some other relatives tomorrow?” David said over his shoulder, as he turned the handle.

“Good plan.” Gwen said through a yawn. She looked up at David’s hopeful face, and didn’t have to force a smile.

“Long day tomorrow, then!” David said. “Good night!”

“G’night.” Gwen replied as David shut the door behind him with a wave. As soon as he left, however, the smile slipped from her face. Campbell’s ‘training’ hadn’t prepared her for anything, let alone a scenario like this. She combed her fingers through her fringe again, feeling the anxiety bubble in the pit of her stomach. Rolling her shoulders, she stood up, and swiped her pyjamas from where they had been haphazardly strewn over the end of her bed.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day indeed. 

 

**

 

The next morning, Max woke to the sound of blissful silence. 

He was beginning to hate it.

Staring at the canvas ceiling of his tent, his sleep-addled brain replayed yesterday’s events. Everyone had left, one by one, going home with their families. Much to Max’s amusement, Nikki and Neil ended up going home together, and the corners of his lips twitched up into a smug smile at the memory. That was going to be a train-wreck.

…A train-wreck he probably wouldn’t have the pleasure of witnessing. Would Nikki and Neil even come back next summer? Max huffed wearily, rubbing at his eyes. He didn’t want to think about it. Sitting up and sliding out of bed, Max pulled the worn blue hoodie over his mop of black hair. Tugging it down over the obscenely bright yellow T-shirt, he stumbled out of his tent and plodded sulkily over to the mess hall. 

It was only morning, but sun was already beating down on him, and the dew on the grass had long since dried up in the heat. The birds had already begun to sing, and the wind blew softly through the trees. Max, however, wasn’t listening, and was eternally grateful to reach the shade of the mess hall. He trudged into the canteen; ready for a nice hot mug of coffee, only to find that the counsellors were already there. They were sat huddled in front of Gwen’s laptop at the other end of the mess hall, focused intently on whatever was on the screen. David looked up, caught his eye, and waved him over.

“Good morning, Max! Hope you enjoyed your lay-in.” He said, far too energetically. Reluctantly, Max stomped over to their table, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he went. He made a point of walking around to the other end of the table it to sit next to Gwen rather than David. 

“If it’s still morning, then it’s not a lay in.” Max stated, angrily.

“I second this, David.” Gwen agreed in a dead-pan voice, visibly stifling a yawn. Her hair was messed up and the bags under her eyes were larger than normal, Max noted. 

“Aw come on Max, eight A.M is a good enough lay-in.” David chided, slipping into his ‘PTA mom voice’, as Max had started to call it.

“Eight A.M!? No wonder I feel like shit!” Max raged, flinging his arms out wildly, demonstrating his indignance to the world at large. 

“Language.”

“Fuck you-” 

Before Gwen’s headache could get any worse, three plastic trays topped with equally plastic pancakes were slid in front of the group. They looked up to see that the Quartermaster was stood with hunched shoulders and staring eyes next to their table, a statue in human form.

He was a mysterious man with a habit of appearing at random times and in random places. The fact that he had managed to sneak up behind the trio shouldn’t have surprised them, and yet it did. Every time. 

“Breakfast.” His facial hair wobbled as he spoke, and Max counted himself lucky that he couldn’t see the old man’s mouth.

“O-oh, um… Thank you, Quartermaster!” David said with a shaky mock salute, chuckling nervously as the old man turned and, slowly but surely, made his way to the end of the room. Their bickering forgotten, they watched the Quartermaster ominously glance back at them before he shut the door with a soft click, staying eerily silent.

“So, does he live here or something?” Max asked after a short pause, dragging his eyes away from the doorframe. Few things actually scared him, but the Quartermaster was toeing the line at ‘creepy’.

“We don’t know – and we probably never will.” Gwen said firmly as she picked up her fork and stabbed it into one of the pancakes. 

In silent agreement, the small group tucked into breakfast. Not one of them had eaten dinner – too caught up in the chaos of leaving day and the confusion that followed when not everyone had left. Even if the packet pancakes were rubbery, too sweet and yet somehow tasteless at the same time, they were a relief. 

It was a few minutes before the silence was broken again.

“You managed to track ‘em down yet?” Max asked, through a mouthful of food. He indicated at the laptop screen with vague disinterest, not quite looking up at it.

“Huh?” Gwen said, clearly lost in thought.

“My parents. You know? The ones that ditched me here?” He didn’t need to lather on the sarcasm that thick, he supposed, but it helped.

“Uh… Sorry, Max…” Gwen mumbled, biting her lip anxiously. “I’m afraid we haven’t, and they aren’t answering the phone.” 

“Yeah.” The boy said curtly, putting his fork down, finding that he was no longer hungry.

“I don’t suppose you have any other relatives we could talk to, Max?” David piped up hopefully, leaning forward so he could see past Gwen. Max paused, and then shrugged.

“I guess there’s my grandma…” Max said, somewhat hesitantly. He could practically feel the relief radiating off of his counsellors. 

“Well, that’s great! Do you know her number?” David said with renewed vigour. 

“She doesn’t have one.” Came the slow, reluctant answer, as Max finally looked up from his breakfast and fixed the adults with a sulky stare.

“Wait… You’re telling me she doesn’t even have a phone?” Gwen asked, clearly mortified by the very idea. 

“You have her address though, right?” David said, holding on to his optimism by a thread. Feeling a little better, Max tried to keep back a smirk – he couldn’t help but enjoy watching them squirm. 

“I know where she lives…” Max began, stringing them along. “But… I don’t know her address.” 

“And where does she live?” Gwen replied, in a tense voice.

“Houston.” 

There was a short silence as Gwen and David registered this information, calculating the distance in their heads.

“But- that’s on the other side of the country!” David recovered first, gesticulating wildly at Max in an effort to convey his astonishment. “How long will it take her to come?”

“She can’t.” Max said, smugly, enjoying their pain. “Doesn’t have a phone, remember? We can’t talk to her.”

“So you’re saying we’ll have to go there.” Gwen muttered, rubbing at her temples. She was beginning to get a headache again. “Max, we can’t afford three plane tickets – we can’t even afford train tickets!”

“Uh, three? Hold up – you only need to afford one.” Max declared, pointing a thumb at himself. “She’s my grandma.”

“Max,” David interjected quickly, his voice radiating what could only be described as motherly concern; “you can’t possibly suggest we let you travel across America by yourself. That would be-”

“Fucking insane!” Gwen said.

“-irresponsible.” David finished.

“How the fuck is that any more dangerous than being stuck in this hellhole!?” Max growled, indicating to the camp at large. He could practically feel the situation spiralling out of his control.

“We literally cannot, Max.” Gwen said dejectedly. “Letting you go alone would be very illegal.”

“Oh, so you did a law degree too-”

“For fuck’s sake, Max.”

“Why does it even matter!?” Max raged. “What other choice do you guys even have? You gonna drive me there yourself?”

Gwen opened her mouth to respond, and then stopped. David looked suddenly thoughtful. 

“Actually…” David said, carefully. 

“Oh hell no. No fucking way.” Max said, looking honestly horrified at the prospect. 

“That could actually work…” Much to Max’s chagrin, David looked almost optimistic at the idea. “What would it be – four, maybe five days…”

“Fuck that! This is stupid, right, Gwen? You’ve got shit to do, job interviews to fail, come on!” Max said, whirling round to face Gwen, his voice becoming strained.

Gwen, much to Max’s dismay, did not look like she shared his horror at the idea of a road-trip. Quite the contrary – she looked just as thoughtful as David. She breathed out slowly, and Max waited in tense silence for her verdict.

“You’re right.” She said, realisation dawning on her. “If I do this… I won’t have to start my job hunt yet!”

“See?” David beamed at Max as the child pinched the bridge of his nose, radiating frustration. “This sounds like a plan! Now all we have to do is find a route!” 

“Fuck this.” Max’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Of course something like this would happen. What else was he expecting? Things to go smoothly? Of course not.

“Come on, Max…” David leaned over Gwen to gingerly pat the child on the shoulder and Gwen leant back in her seat to accommodate him. Max crossed his arms unhappily. David chose his next words with care. “It’ll… Go really fast, I promise. You’ll be there in no time!”

“Fine.” Max rolled his eyes, internally cursing every decision he’d ever made that had led up to this point. “Whatever. I don’t even care. I’ll try not to kill you or anything, but I’m not making any promises.”

“Well.” Gwen stood up, and stretched. That was the closest thing to an agreement that the counsellors were going to get, and so she accepted it for what it was. “Let’s get this shit-show on the road, then.”

And with that, the trio got to work. David and Gwen tiredly shuffled off to their rooms to plan the route to Houston whilst Max excused himself to go nap in his tent. He was exhausted already, and they hadn’t even started the journey yet. 

After a moment of hesitation, Max pulled Mr Honeynuts out of his bag and climbed onto the camp bed with him. The beds were tough and thin, but with Mr Honeynuts tucked in next to him, they suddenly became a lot more pleasant. Of course, he’d rather sleep on the floor than let anyone know he regularly slept with the bear, hiding it under the covers so that Nikki or Neil wouldn’t see. But he was grateful for its presence anyway.

It seemed as if Max was just getting comfortable when he heard the car engine start up. It was a very distinct sound – the sound of an engine that really shouldn’t be allowed on the road but had, against all odds, got there anyway. Max waited, in the vague hope that they’d leave without him. The rumbling persisted. 

Giving up, Max stuffed Mr Honeynuts back into the bag and stumbled out of his tent to see David waving at him from beside the car. Groaning and grumbling, he reluctantly staggered over, and was greeted with a cheery smile from David, who opened the car door for him. Unable to work up the energy for a snarky response, Max hopped onto the back seat and tossed his backpack onto the floor.

Gwen was sat up front in the passenger’s seat, with her laptop haphazardly placed on top of a mess of maps. She looked significantly more stressed than at breakfast, but still managed to absent-mindedly wave at Max in a silent greeting. David climbed into the drivers seat next to her and put his seatbelt on, looking far too excited about this whole situation.

“Everyone buckled up?” David asked cheerfully. Gwen wordlessly lifted a portion of the map to show him that she was, indeed, buckled up. David looked over his shoulder at Max, who sighed heavily and clicked the seatbelt into place.

“Great!” David said, turning back around. “Onwards – to Texas!”

“Actually,” Gwen said, before David could get the car moving. “We should probably inform the authorities we’re shepherding a ten-year-old kid across the country.”

“Yeah,” Max interjected sarcastically, “You guys are basically kidnapping me.”

“Alright, good point.” David conceded. “Police station first. And then, to Texas!”

As David guided the weary, worn car down the gravel road, Max couldn’t help but gaze out at Camp Campbell through the dusty window. He tried to squash the feeling of homesickness in his chest as he watched the camp disappear behind them. Good riddance, Max thought, as he tried to force himself not to feel sad. 

It didn’t quite work.

**Author's Note:**

> I will try and update weekly if possible... Buuuut you know how it is. ;-) Anyway, I hope you liked it! If you stuck it through to the end, that is... I promise Daniel crops up in the next chapter!


End file.
